


I'll Have Your Back

by asherly89



Category: 9-1-1: Lone Star (TV 2020)
Genre: Back Pain, Hurt!Carlos, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:41:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28464732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asherly89/pseuds/asherly89
Summary: Carlos hurts his back on his first call of a 24 he shift. But the precinct is understaffed, so he keeps going. It's not until almost the end of shift that they get a call with 126, and TK realizes he's hurt. TK makes Carlos get checked over at the ambulance and Carlos cries from holding onto the pain all day. Cue TK taking care of Carlos.
Relationships: Carlos Reyes/TK Strand
Comments: 4
Kudos: 200





	I'll Have Your Back

**Author's Note:**

> I can't take ANY credit for this one. This was all Melo. She actually had this as a prompt on her Tarlos Exchange along with the other prompt (Play me Like a Fiddle). I couldn't let this one go so here I am, writing both of her AMAZING prompts.

It was one of those days. The ones where you wake up and you know something isn’t going to go right but you can’t put your finger on it. You just have to wait and see what’s going to happen. Carlos had woken up early and couldn’t get back to sleep so he went for a run as the sun rose up. He had a feeling his shift today wasn’t going to be easy. He just knew it was going to be tough. Not only was he pulling a double, making him work a full 24 hours but they also were currently understaffed because the captain had given too many people their requested vacation off for the week.

But he had to work and the extra money wouldn’t be so bad. He was looking at getting some extra money so he could take TK away for a weekend.

When he gets home from his run, he showers, gets dressed for work and eats breakfast all before making his way to the station. Thankfully it’s quiet when he gets there. The night shift didn’t have too many cases spill over into the morning. Just a couple of drunks who got into a fight and were now sleeping it off in a cell. He had to smile because the last time he had to work with people who had gotten into a fight was when TK was brought in with a black eye and split lip.

He’s not at his desk long before a call comes in about a possible store break in. Carlos and a couple of other patrol cars race to the scene and see the window smashed to the jewelry store. He draws his gun and carefully walks to the broken window with the others behind him. He can see into the shop and sees it’s only one person grabbing everything he can. Carlos nods to the others and they close in.

“Austin police, put your hands up!” Carlos shouts into the store.

The suspect drops his bag and looks at Carlos before running to the front doors. Carlos curses and runs to the other side of the building. By the time he gets there the suspect has broken through the door and is running down the street. Carlos puts his gun away and runs after him. 

The guy is quick and moves through the alleyways and over a fence fairly easily. Carlos gives pursuit and he keeps up with the guy. One of the other officers is yelling into the radio he’s in his car trailing over them and the other is trying to stay ahead so they can pin him in.

They get to a darker space between two buildings and Carlos doesn’t see a crate that is sticking out and he goes down. He tries to catch himself but over balances and lands on his back rather than front. Thankfully the guy can’t scale the brick wall and when the other officers arrive with lights and sirens, he gives up. Carlos slowly gets up and grinds his teeth because he back hurts from falling over.

“You okay, Reyes?” one of the officers asks.

“I should be fine in a minute,” Carlos replies back. He slowly sits up and grinds his teeth when his back protests from bending. He takes a few more minutes to get comfortable enough to stand and when he finally does he’s slow. His back is angry at him and he limps over to the car. He leans carefully on the car and takes a deep breath. He can’t be hurt the first hour of his shift.

He makes it back to his patrol car and looks for the bottle of pain reliever he keeps with him just in case he gets a headache. He takes two with a swig of water then relaxes his body into his seat. He doesn’t have much time to relax before there’s a call over the radio about a car accident.

Carlos’ back isn’t happy with him moving from site to site but he pushes on. He needs the extra cash and with the station being understaffed he can’t go home early.

By lunch his back hurts worse than before. He takes more pain reliever and it helps minimally. He makes it back to the station to eat his lunch and he’s happy the radio has been quiet for an hour. He eats at this desk and his back hates that he’s bending over but he has to make sure not to get his uniform dirty.

After lunch, he tries to do paperwork but his back won’t let him. He stiffly walks to the bathroom and when he gets there it takes him a few minutes to get his shirt and vest off but when he does he turns to the mirror and sees a huge purple and blue bruise on his back. He knew his back was hurt but he didn’t know he had bruised. He pokes at it and hisses from the pain.

The door opens and he quickly tries to cover himself but the officer who walks in whistles, “Damn man, what happened?”

“Fell on that robbery call this morning,” Carlos replies.

“That’s some bruise. You should take something for it,” the officer says back.

“I will,” Carlos says then redresses and leaves the bathroom with a sigh.

He has to go on patrol, so he takes two more pills to hopefully help his pain.

The afternoon into night is slow and he pulls over one person for speeding. Bending to look into the window is hard but he fights through it and gives the young man a warning but letting him go.

After dinner the calls pick up and Carlos is asked to check on an elderly man, whose family has heard from in a couple of days. The house is lit up when he gets there and he almost wants to say the man is fine so he doesn’t have to move out of his car, but he knows that if the man isn’t fine then he can get into trouble for lying on the job. He walks slowly up to the door and knocks.

He hears feet shuffling on the floor and the door creaks open, “What do you want?” the old man behind the door grumpily asks.

“I’m sorry to bother you, sir, but your family is very worried about you and they asked that we check on you,” Carlos replies, “Can I come in?”

“No, go away!” the old man says and goes to close the door, but somehow Carlos’ foot moves in the way and the door won't close.

“I just want to make sure you have food and aren’t hurt in any way, sir,” Carlos says, “I’m Officer Reyes, what’s your name?”

“If my family is so worried about me, they would’ve supplied you with my name,” the man answers, “Now leave me alone. I want to nap!”

Carlos sighs, “Please, sir, just 2 minutes and I’ll leave.”

The man looks him up and down and grumbles, but let’s Carlos in, “Two minutes and that’s it!”

Carlos nods and steps into the house. It’s dirty and smells, but he doesn’t let that stop him from looking around. The TV is on and there’s dirty dishes around the couch. The curtains are drawn, but at least he has the lights on. The kitchen is dirty with pots and pans sitting in the sink and take out food boxes on the counter. The trash is overflowing but there’s no flies so that’s good.

“Sir, when was the last time you cleaned up?” Carlos asks.

“None of your business,” the man replies, “You done? I want to get back to watching Jeopardy.”

Carlos starts making his way back to the front door and he seems a dirty pile on the floor. He bends over, which his back is not happy about, and looks at it. In front of him is a very dirty and overweight dog.

“Is it alive?” Carlos asks.

“Max,” the man says sharply and the dirty dog head moves up to look at his owner, “He’s fine. Now get going.”

Carlos moves back to his full height and walks to the front door. The man not far behind him. When he’s at the door he turns and the old man is right there with him, “Sir, I would suggest cleaning up your place and calling your family.”

“Those good for nothing...they’re always worried but never come over,” the man tells Carlos, “Well you can leave now and if they call again tell them I’m fine!”

The man pushes at Carlos’ back as the door opens and Carlos has to fight from crying out. The man’s hand is pushing right into the bruise on his back. Even with the bulletproof vest on he can feel it touching him and pushing into his injury.

“Have a good night,” Carlos grinds out and hears the door slam behind him.

When he gets back to his car he lets out the breath he didn’t know he was holding. His back is aching so much that he doesn’t know if he’ll make it the last 12ish hours of his shift.

* * *

He’s almost free when a call comes in about a fire at an abandoned building where a homeless encampment was. Carlos and a few other officers go out to check everyone and do crowd control. When he arrives, Carlos sees the 126 trucks at the scene. He can’t help but be grateful his boyfriend is there.

The fire is big but not uncontrolled (thank God), and those who need medical attention are carted off. Carlos gets the last of the small crowd to disperse and when he turns around he sees TK. TK sees him as well and waves.

Carlos limps over to TK, his back now screaming at him but he doesn’t want to take more pain meds since he’ll max out on them soon. He sees the concern on TK’s face and he tries to wave it off, but TK is already coming over.

“Are you okay?” TK asks.

“Fine,” Carlos answers, “Just hurt my back earlier.”

“You’re limping. You should get checked out,” TK says back. He goes to put an arm around his boyfriend but Carlos pulls away.

“I’m okay. Just need to sit down for a moment. I’m off soon,” Carlos says.

“You’ve been on since yesterday morning and have been in pain the whole time. You need to be looked over. Make sure it’s nothing serious,” TK replies, “Please just have Michelle check you over before you go.”

Carlos sighs in defeat. He knows he should get checked out but he also doesn't want to burden anyone with his injury. He slowly walks over to the ambulance where Michelle and Nancy are cleaning up their medical supplies. TK follows behind him. 

“Hey Michelle,” he says trying to keep the mood light.

“Hey Carlos, how are you?” Michelle asks. She only looks up briefly before going back to putting gauze away.

“Can you check out my back for me?” He sheepishly asks, “I fell earlier.”

“Sure,” Michelle replies, “You’ll need to take your shirt and vest off though.”

Carlos slowly moves his arms up to unbutton his shirt, but TK’s hands come up to help.

“TK, if you wanted to see me naked all you had to do was ask,” Carlos says trying to lighten the mood.

TK gives him a disapproving look, but keeps unbuttoning his shirt. He helps Carlos get his shirt off and then goes to undo the bulletproof vest but Carlos stops him and does it himself, “I can do it.”

Once his vest is off and he’s only wearing his undershirt, Michelle comes over to lift his shirt and check him out. She hisses when she sees his bruised skin, “Carlos, this is serious. You’ve been working all day like this?”

Carlos nods, “We’re understaffed and I’m on a double.”

“You should’ve gone home,” Michelle comments. She touches the bruise making Carlos gasp, “Sorry, it’s just...you have a huge bruise but nothing looks broken. Are you breathing okay?”

He can only nod. If he tries to talk he’ll start to cry. He had been masking how bad the pain was but now, with his friend and boyfriend near and looking at him, he can’t help but want to break down.

“I say it’s just a bad bruise, but if you want a more professional one, I’d suggest going to the doctor,” Michelle says. She pulls his shirt back down.

Carlos nods again, “Th-thank you. I should...I should go back to the station, do some paperwork before my shift ends.”

He puts his clothes back on, with help from TK. Tears start to leak from his eyes while he watches TK delicately button up his uniform shirt. He wipes them away but more slip out and soon he’s sniffling along with the tears.

“I think you should go home,” TK says, “How much longer do you have on your shift?”

Carlos sniffs and rubs at his eyes, looking like a child, before looking at his watch, “An hour.”

“I’m off as soon as we get back to the station,” TK comments, “I’ll meet you at your place.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Carlos says, “I know you worked all night. You should go home and sleep. I’ll be fine.”

“Carlos Reyes, you are standing here, _crying_ because your back hurts so much you can’t even move your arms enough to get your shirt off. You’re going home and I’ll be there when you get there,” TK says.

“Okay. Just...give me a minute?” Carlos replies

TK wraps his arm around Carlos’ shoulder and Carlos cries into his shoulder. TK whispers into his ear that he’ll be okay, making Carlos cry more. When Carlos thinks he’s cried enough he pulls away and with a weak smile. TK kisses his forehead and tells him that’ll he’ll see him soon.

* * *

When Carlos gets back to the station he pushes the paperwork aside and tells the captain he’s leaving early. The captain tries to protest, but Carlos replies back with, “I hurt my back. I’m going home,” and moves to the locker room to change.

It’s a slow process, but Carlos gets undressed and out of his uniform. He doesn’t bother trying to get his shirt on over his undershirt, getting his jeans back on was tough enough, and he throws on his jacket before closing his locker and heading into the parking lot for his car. 

Once he arrives home, he slowly moves up the drive, and to the front door. He doesn’t get the keys into the lock before TK is opening the door for him with a smile, “Hey babe.”

“Hi,” Carlos says and gives TK a quick kiss.

“Go lay down on the bed,” TK tells him, “I have a heating pad for you.”

“You don’t have to take care of me,” Carlos says.

“I know,” TK replies, “But I want to.”

Carlos gives him another kiss before moving down the hall to his bedroom. He slips out of his jeans and jacket, moving to lay on the bed. His back protests from him lifting his legs up on to the bed and he has to bite his cheek so he doesn’t cry out.

TK comes in a few minutes later with the heating pad in hand and a throw blanket. He gently places the pad on Carlos’ back and the blanket over it. He goes to move, but Carlos’ hand grabs his wrist, “Stay,” Carlos says.

TK nods and moves to the other side of the bed. He sits with his back leaning on the headboard and when he sees Carlos moving closer, he helps him. Carlos lays with his head on TK’s thigh and TK’s fingers run through his hair, soothing him. The warmth of the heating pad and TK's fingers lull him into a light sleep. When TK moves Carlos protests, but TK soothes him by saying, "I'm just taking the heating pad off. I'm not going any where."

Carlos sighs from the loss of warmth, but soon he's being carefully moved off of TK and he doesn't have time to protest before TK is laying down and pulling him back over. Carlos rests his head on TK's shoulder and his arm wraps around TK's middle. TK's arms come around so that one is back in his hair and the other is holding on to him above his bruised back. TK starts one of his rambling monologues and Carlos falls asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> I hate the title of this story, but I didn't know what else to title it. lol.


End file.
